BACOLOD City – President Rodrigo Duterte has signed Republic Act (RA) No. 11146 that declares June 18 as the “Bacolod City Charter Day,” making it a special non-working holiday in the city.
The new law commemorates the day when then President Manuel L. Quezon signed and approved into effect Commonwealth Act 326 that created the City of Bacolod.
Cong. Greg Gasataya had filed House Bill 7044 on June 13, 2017, upon the request of Mayor Evelio Leonardia, to correct Republic Act 7724 that erroneously set Oct. 19 as the date for the celebration of the Charter Day of Bacolod City.
Gasataya said the amended bill was filed after the discovery that the City’s Charter was actually signed by Quezon on June 18, 1938. Oct. 19, on the other hand, was the inauguration of the first city officials, for which Quezon came to Bacolod, he added.
Leonardia, upon learning of the development today, thanked Gasataya for pursuing the bill. This will, once and for, all correct the erroneous date of the Charter Day celebration in Bacolod, he added.
“After 80 years, we will now have our history in proper order,” the mayor said.
In her Dec. 5 letter to Leonardia, Atty. Concepcion Zeny Ferrolino- Enad, director of the Malacañang Records Office, said that she is furnishing the mayor a certified copy of RA 11146, which was approved by Duterte on Nov. 9, 2018.
RA 11146 declares June 18 of every year as a “special non-working holiday in the City of Bacolod” to be known as the “Bacolod City Charter Day.
It can be recalled that the Senate had unanimously approved on Sept. 10, 2018 the amended House Bill No. 7044 of Gasataya.
RA 11146 also provides that the inauguration of the City of Bacolod shall be commemorated every Oct. 19, and that the highlights of the MassKara Festival shall be held on the fourth Sunday of October. (Bacolod City PIO/PN)
